History
History is the systematic study of the past (Arthur Marwick 1970)-is probably the simplistic definition of history- what most study materials talk about. Here, we intend to unpack some hidden concepts infused in human history as an exciting area of knowledge in IB’s Theory of Knowledge coursework. Throughout the discourse you would get to dissect history through TOK concepts like evidence, certainty, interpretation, explanation, perspectives, culture, and responsibility.
Class room activity 1- An initial discussion after watching this video can be great fun. It sets the boundary within which History as as area of knowledge can be explored. Teachers can ask students to identify as many points as they can that best fits into respective knowledge framework.
Areas of knowledge
To refine the definition of history, probably we would attribute the past as recorded. The attribute ‘recorded’ is imperative as history being the study of ‘recorded’ past briefs‘ about the past. The construction of the knowledge about the explanation of past events is based on evidence from sources. These explanations are precisely historical narratives. It is pertinent to observe that the time of the sedimentation of the historical events is likely to be different from the time of narration. Though events are experienced sequentially, narration of the events in attributing a coherent meaning to the past events take up a different structure.
Classroom activity 2- Teachers can divide students in group or the task can be individual too. Each student need to pick an object in historical context, a painting from the past, a book conveying past events in history or even a monument or for that matter a King/Queen character. The idea is to find sources that claim the truthfulness of the object selected in conveying past event correctly. The purpose of this activity is to aggregate diverse views on one particular object. A good example could be Polybius narration about Achaean war and Views on Tughlaq by Anuja Chandramouli
However, questions arise on the importance of history in contemporary times. How is the study important if only it is weaved through telling of facts about the past which had happened and are over? A good amount of light would be thrown on this, briefing about the past events, their interpretations, and talking about far reaching consequences of the past in order to give sense to the present.
Class room activity 3 – Why is History complex and what values it brings on table for the mankind? Why should we not just ignore History and move on? How different our world would be if we let go past events and never record or discuss them? Does it matter to look for evidences that makes some historical events valuable in our lives? Should I care about history of my country and generations than something from cross borders?
The historical events with consequences capture more attention of historians. As reflectors, students would better understand this area of knowledge as “a reconstruction of the past which is both intelligent and intelligible” (Walsh, 1967).
The mind boggling question here is: ‘How do we get to know about the past’? Past events get to be known through historical facts which serve as evidences. Evidences may be in the form of artifacts, primary, and secondary evidences. While primary sources are not used to analyze and interpret the past events, secondary sources do analyze and interpret the past. Is it?
Classroom Activity 4 – What qualifies as good evidence?
But what we treat as factual evidences to substantiate the explanations about past events, are basically historical narratives which are opinionated. Hence, questions arise on the credibility and certainty of evidence, for opinions are non-verifiable.
Activity 5 – What methods and tools are reliable in exploring History?
To speak on evidence, documentary evidence seems to play an important role in history raising questions on how reliable these evidences are. Learners need to reflect on the surging contestability of the 20th century which raised a key pointer on the existence and role of an individual historian in history. To be specific, whether historical facts are independent of historians-is a food for thought.
Is there a concept of objectivity involved in history?
The most reasonable outlook to analyze this question is historical narratives are subjective to how each historian is influenced by individual socio-cultural contexts. The subjective influence of society and culture invariably affect each historian’s perspectives, choice of evidence, and interpretation of evidence in narrating about the past.
This answers the BIG question for you-How do interpretations of the same event differ? The question opens up the idea on pluralistic history which accounts for the same past through multiple perspectives. Herein, historians use their subjective interpretations of evidence from the past and own reasoning to deduce about the past. Each historian’s reasoning about a past event is a fruit of individual emotions, imagination, socio-cultural contexts, and shared knowledge which lack the firm conviction or certainty. Check for perspectives
If You like what you read, you may consider reading Natural science
History is a great source as an AOK to choose objects for exhibition. However, It is important to select IA prompt that best fits the best. Read more about TOK exhibition here.
